Suzuki delivers walk-off hit as Athletics down Twins

OAKLAND, California (Ticker) -- Kurt Suzuki came off the bench
to collect his second walk-off hit of the month as the Oakland
Athletics edged the Minnesota Twins, 3-2, on Thursday.

The Athletics prevailed with a rally against Craig Breslow (0-2)
and Jesse Crain.

Ryan Sweeney, fresh off the disabled list, reached for the third
time with a leadoff single in the ninth off Breslow and moved to
second on a sacrifice by Daric Barton.

Crain came on and walked pinch hitter Emil Brown before Suzuki,
who was batting for Rob Bowen, doubled off the left-field wall
to plate the winning run.

Oakland won back-to-back games for the first time since July
10-11, a span of 40 games, the longest such streak in Oakland
history.

"Suzuki coming through," Athletics starter Dana Eveland said.
"That's starting to become pretty normal here. Every time he
comes off the bench it seems like he's getting the job done.
It's nice to win a couple in a row."

"He throws hard, and has the good breaking ball," Suzuki said of
Crain. "I was just looking in one zone for a pitch to hit. I
missed the 2-0 pitch, but I got to a hitter's count at 3-1 and
didn't miss that one."

The Twins (75-59) missed a chance to gain a full game on the
Boston Red Sox (77-56) in the American League wild-card race and
one-half game on the Chicago White Sox (76-57) in the AL
Central.

"We pretty much don't worry about the other guys," Twins manager
Ron Gardenhire said. "We have to take care of our own business.
We're on a long road trip ... but we know what happens here with
us and the A's, its always a battle."

Minnesota is in the middle of a 15-day, 14-game road trip while
the Republican National Convention occupies the Metrodome.

"Obviously, it's a tough situation," Crain said. "I tried to
make good pitches (to Suzuki) for the double play and it's just
the way things are right now. That's three close games that
we've lost."

The A's had opened the scoring in the fourth, when Frank Thomas
hit a leadoff double down the left field line and scored two
batters later on an impressive double play started by second
baseman Alexi Casilla.

Barton hit a sharp grounder up the middle. Casilla dived at the
ball, speared it with his glove at full extension and - in one
motion - flipped it to shortstop Nick Punto, who barehanded it
on the bag and completed the double play.

Eveland, who was sent to the minors after issuing 36 walks in 56
innings but was recalled on August 21, walked two through the
first five frames, but each runner was erased on a double-play
grounder by the following hitter.

"Two of my walks today were bad, a couple of pitches got away
from me, but the double plays helped me cover that up," Eveland
said.

But in the sixth, Joe Mauer drew a walk with two on and one out,
loading the bases for Justin Morneau, who lifted a sacrifice fly
to left field to knot the game at 1-1.

In the bottom of the frame, Oakland regained the lead on
Barton's RBI single off Nick Blackburn. Minnesota forged another
deadlock in the seventh on Punto's run-scoring base hit.

Blackburn allowed two runs, six hits and a pair of walks while
striking out two in 5 2/3 innings.

Eveland tossed seven frames, giving up two runs and five hits
with three walks and two strikeouts. Joey Devine (4-0) pitched
a scoreless ninth for the win.

"An all-around good day," Eveland said. "We pitched well - not
just me, everybody threw well and shut them down."